>> ganar es sobre el mejor, o u >> you are a survivor with a capital s. michelle knight survived 11 years captive in the home of a monster. >> takes me back out the door, drags me down these stairs like that. >> chained and victimized by this man. somehow she kept hope alive for herself an the two other women he kidnapped. >> one day we'll get out. >> their escape made headlines around the world. >> we're going home. >> and tonight in an exclusive interview, she tells the story you haven't heard. >> you can't break someone that's already been broken. you can only make them stronger.

>> savannah guthrie with michelle knight. he met the love of his life by accident. he ran over her with a horse. >> pretty tough kid. >> years later, when he lost her, he named his new love after his old one. >> the slowest horse i have ever seen. >> but this lisa, lame and half blind, turned out to be pretty tough, too. >> i was determined to make this horse run. >> and run she did. >> and there they go! >> could she win her biggest race of all? >> it's definitely one of those things, where it's made up in hollywood. also. heart stopping moments. >> heartbreaking stories. >> i'm scared to death. >> on "the voice," it's amazing what they've overcome. >> i'm like i can't do that. no, this show has no boundaries. >> we take you on an exclusive trip backstage where contestants and coaches open up. hardships.

>> it's so hard, it's so hard to be away from home. >> relationships. >> i never felt a stronger bond with any other human being. >> and the secrets that make the show really sane. >> i really love these guys. >> winning against all odds. >> welcome to "dateline" everyone. i'm lester holt. we meet amazing and courageous people all the time on "dateline." michelle knight is one of the bravest. almost exactly one year ago tonight she and two other women took on a monster and won. here's savannah guthrie. >> on the broadcast tonight, the daring escape for three young women missing for a decade. >> amanda berry, gina dejesus and michelle knight found, held captive in a home within miles from where they were last seen. the news shocked the world. >> you can truly believe that miracles really do happen. >> three young women breaking free from a boarded up house in

cleveland after a decade in captivity. >> amanda berry, i've been missing for ten years, i'm here, i'm free now. >> investigators who spent years searching for the girls were stunned. >> i just -- my mouth dropped open. >> the most amazing case ever. >> against all odds, the young women have survived. >> i've been in this business for over 40 years, i've seen a lot of heroes in my life. but these girls top it off. >> tonight, the woman who was held the longest, michelle knight, tells her incredible story of strength and survival. she writes about it all in her new book, "finding me". >> one of the most remarkable things about you is you are a survivor with a capital s. what do you think it is inside you that gives you that strength? >> sometimes in life, you have a dark path that makes you who you are but it doesn't define who you are. it just makes you stronger. >> michelle learned to be strong

at an early age. by the time she was 21, she says she had already endured poverty, abuse and perhaps worst of all, having her 2-year-old son joey taken away by social services. he was taken, michelle says, after a family acquaintance hurt him. desperate to get him back, michelle left her house one morning to meet with joey's caseworker. it was august 23rd, 2002. >> all my friends said, good luck, i hope you're able to get your son back. and i said, me too. >> but michelle got lost on the way and ended up at this dollar store. when she asked for directions, a man offered to give her a ride. it was ariel castro. >> so i got in the car and we started to drive. he was like oh, by the way, i have puppies. if you want one, you can take one home to your son. i was like okay. and then we go into the house. >> castro told her the puppies were in an upstairs bedroom. >> and then that's when he shut

the door on me. and i just started crying. >> michelle was trapped inside 2207 seymour avenue, the place that would become her jail for the next decade. >> does this look like the house you remember? >> yep. exactly. >> we built an approximate scale model of the house so michelle could walk us through her story. >> right here. >> that's where he -- >> that's where i was trapped. >> trapped inside a house that looked more like a fortress. homemade alarm systems, bedroom doors that locked from the outside, drapes covering the stairwells, chains in each bedroom. michelle says castro raped her whenever he felt like it and would leave her chained and alone for hours. >> how did you get through each day? just sitting there. >> thinking of my son and hoping i could see his smile again. >> michelle was allowed one

small comfort, a television set. and that's how almost a year into her captivity, she heard the news. >> cleveland police don't know where amanda berry is. >> castro soon brought amanda berry to michelle's room. >> what did she look like in that moment? how did she seem to you? >> well, she looked disgusted because the way my room was. the way he kept me. >> do you think she was realizing -- >> that's what she was going to end up going through. >> michelle had also been reported missing when she vanished, but you amanda, at 16 years old, was still a minor and her case made big headlines. >> there were flyers put up and the news media showed pictures of her. >> vicky anderson is an fbi special agent. >> every morning the group of us were out on the street in her neighborhood, in the area that she worked canvassing the neighborhood. >> but nothing drew them to castro's house. then a year later, another girl

from the area vanished, 14-year-old gina dejesus. >> that's why we're working -- >> the deputy chief of homeland security and special operations in cleveland. >> one of the things that popped up immediately was, you know, what are these dates, what are these locations have in common? what are we looking at? who are we looking at? >> the man they were looking for was actually living right among them, even inviting friends into his home. >> when people would come to the house, you girls would be up here? >> yes. and he would take speakers, chairs, couch seats, whatever, put it right there, and he'll block from anyone getting up the stairs at all. >> no one said, hey that's strange, why do you have it like that? >> yeah. i don't understand why. >> michelle says she and gina were kept in a room painted pink where they became like sisters.

>> you and gina were in the room together so long, you saw each other go through terrible abuse. >> yes. there were days like he'll come in and he'll just do bad things in front of me and i'll take her hand and i'll tell her everything is going to be okay. one day we'll get out. one day we'll be free. one day we won't be voiceless. >> eventually, the inevitable happened. >> one of the hardest things to hear that you went through is getting pregnant. that was tremendously painful. >> were you afraid to tell him? >> very. very afraid. because i didn't know what he was going to do, what he was going to say. >> castro's reaction was brutal. he beat michelle until she miscarried. not once, but every time she became pregnant.

>> that happened how many times? >> i want to say five or four. >> must have broken your heart. >> every time. >> when amanda became pregnant in 2006, castro allowed her to keep the baby. michelle often felt castro hated her the most. >> he wanted to break me and that's something he couldn't do. because you can't break someone that's already been broken. you can only make them stronger. >> somehow michelle managed to find some bright spots even in that dark place, and this was one of them. he allowed michelle to keep a diary and she poured her heart on to those precious pages. >> what are some of the things you would write and draw? >> i'll write poems, songs. i would draw doggies, i would dry care bears. >> this was one of her first entries. >> vibrant butterfly full of

life, every time i see one it reminds me how precious life can truly be. to be able to turn from a caterpillar into a butterfly. and to be able to fly so gracefully across the sky. >> it's amazing that you found hope, you could write that even in that darkest moment. >> it was difficult. but i managed it. and it made me feel a lot better inside when i wrote it. >> like a butterfly, michelle dreamed of flying away. and one day, she almost got her chance. michelle says castro eventually relaxed his iron grip just a bit and didn't always keep her chained up. it was during one of those times that michelle tried to make a break for it. >> i don't think about it. i'm just going to do it. i just ran. i think he heard me and that's when he ran down the stairs. obviously, i wasn't quick enough and i was too small so i wasn't able to jump the fence. >> but you ran out the back door? >> yeah.

>> michelle says castro grabbed her and pulled her back into the house. but the next time michelle would get so close to freedom, there would be nothing her captor to do to stop her. >> announcer: coming up, their kidnapper makes a mistake and the door to their prison is left unlocked. >> we need police, fire, ambulance. >> i was like gina, gina, you won't believe this. we're going home. >> when "dateline" continues. what you wear to bed is your business. so, if you're sleeping in your contact lenses,

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michelle knight was kidnapped by ariel castro and held in his cleveland home for years along with two other young women. as time passed, authorities continued to search for them. >> we tracked everything that we knew to track. we followed every crazy tip that came in. we did everything. >> i mean, the resources that we put into it were, you know, at

the time i think almost unprecedented. >> little did they know how brazen castro had become. in her book michelle says castro told her he even helped gina's family look for their daughter, all the while knowing he had her locked up in his house. it takes a certain kind of person, says cuyahoga county prosecutor tim mcginty to pull that off. >> the diabolical, evil individual. >> as impossible as it seemed, castro was able to lead two completely separate lives. >> you can have a guy like ariel castro on your street or my street. he could be harboring victims and you wouldn't know it. >> even when castro was stopped by police in 2008 at this gas station for riding a motorcycle without a proper license, he didn't seem fazed. >> see your driver's license. >> at the moment the video was taken, he was keeping michelle hidden for six long years. michelle often dreamed of escaping but besides all the locks and chains in the house,

there was another obstacle to freedom, the mind games castro played on the girls. >> he would leave the door open. he would leave us in one room and he'll be in another room and he'll just like peep in every so often to make sure that we're not running out that door. >> and that's why last may 6th michelle thought he set yet another trap. she had been in captivity more than ten years when she heard amanda's daughter yell up the stairs that castro had left the house. >> she was like daddy told me to come up here and stay. i was like, it must be just another one of those things where he just told her to go up there and say that. to see if we would do anything. >> you thought it was a trick? >> yeah. >> but castro had left the house. not only that, michelle says he didn't lock amanda's door. so amanda crept downstairs, broke through the front door and ran across the street with her little girl. >> hello, police. help me. i'm amanda berry.

>> you need police, fire or ambulance? >> i need police. >> cleveland police officers anthony he is pat a, michael tracy and barbara johnson heard the call come over the radio that amanda berry might have been found. >> i looked over at my partner, he kind of looked at me and you know, just that face, is this for real? >> by the time the officers arrived, it was clear this wasn't a hoax. they saw a woman standing in the street. it was amanda. >> this might be for real. >> might be others in the house. >> it was unbelievable. i mean, my mind was going wow, i cannot believe that she's in front of me and there's possibly two other girls. >> without thinking myself and my partner, we started charging for the house. >> this cell phone video shows the moment police officers broke into the house. >> my partner and i ran up to the porch and the door was chained shut. i kicked it a few times. >> that sound got michelle's attention in an upstairs bedroom.

>> i hear this big, loud noise, crash, boom. >> i'm looking towards the bedroom. >> then it was like, police, police. >> she started just charging at me. she jumped on to me, she had her arms around my neck. >> she then jumped up into my arms. >> i told her, don't let me go, don't let me go. >> i said, honey, i'm not going to let you go. >> we found them. >> we found them. >> i was like, gina, gina, you won't believe this, we're going home. >> chaos broke out in the street outside. >> it was a mob scene. as i pulled up, nancy, gina's mom. she was screaming, is it true, is it true? and i told her, i said, i don't know nancy. come on. i took her up to the house. >> oh, my gosh, what a day. it was just overwhelming. >> we were astounded, shocked with joy. >> the women were rushed to the hospital.

michelle weighed less than 84 pounds. >> she had been given a nutra bar and eaten it. she asked the nurse, do you think it's possible, she asked timdly, i might be able to have one more. she said honey, you can have all you want. she grabbed the nurse's arm and hugged her arm and said thank you, thank you. it showed what she had been through. i said this girl has been starved, just looking at her. she's that grateful for such a small item. >> michelle has started over now. but it hasn't all been easy. she discovered that her son joey had been adopted by a new family. she says one day she hopes she'll get to see him again. >> the parents that he has are very loving, very concerned about his feelings. i thank them for that. because i wasn't able to be there to give him that. >> for now, michelle is focused on making the most of her freedom. she's even changed her name.

>> why did you decide to create a new name? >> i felt like everybody needs a new beginning. >> lily as she's now known has her own apartment where she loves to write and draw. and she's taking cooking classes in the hopes of becoming a chef one day. last month she turned 33, the first birthday she was able to celebrate in years. the first birthday of her new life. >> you wrote in your diary a long time ago about the butterfly. >> you still like the butterfly? >> yes. able to express herself the way she wants now and able to be free without control and no worries. i'm that butterfly. >> you'll hear much more of michelle knight's story when she sits down with savannah guthrie monday on "today."

coming up, when he lost the love of his life, he lost his zest for life. she helped him win it back. >> definitely think it's a magical story. i mean, it's pretty unbelievable. >> and later -- >> who is this ace of bass? behind the scenes at "the voice". can i get another dirty martini? it's there because i'm a larger-than-life jewelry store. dan here needs a "julie, please spend the rest of your life with me" ring. well, my selection is truly unique, including up to ten thousand loose diamonds, the tolkowsky ideal cut and the leo artisan. my expert staff guided dan to the perfect ring... ...which he then delivered... ...with all of his heart. yes! and that's why he went to jared.

this weekend was the 140th running of the roses, the kentucky derby, the first leg of racing's triple crown. the pros will tell you winning any race takes a rare combination of breeding, training and beating the odds. but never bet against love. here's keith morrison. what is she thinking as he prances for the adoring crowd here in saratoga? she is gorgeous, huge, 17 hands high, twitching, eager, ready. and the overwhelming sentimental favorite of the whole stadium full of people who heard the story of the half blind, once lame creature in the gate, creature that might not be just

a horse. >> i definitely think it's a magical story. i mean, it's pretty unbelievable. >> if anybody knows as you'll see, it would be sierra chidster. >> it's definitely one of those things that people say it's made up in hollywood. >> it struck me that even by long shot and underdog stories, it was extreme. >> author jay laiden follows the circuit here in upstate new york. >> it's a really different, quirky kind of story and a romantic story on some level but an unusually romantic story, too. it happened to the least romantic guy you'll meet. a hard boiled trainer named tim snyder. >> you've led a pretty damn interesting life. an unusual one. >> unusual. >> lot of ups and downs. >> lot of ups and downs. lot of racetracks. >> one day, years ago on one of those horse tracks, a horse he was exercising got spooked. there was a girl on the tracks and she couldn't get out of the

way. >> before she knew it, i had run her over and knocked her down. >> she was prepared to hang out with you after that. >> that weekend, we went home to grandma's for spaghetti. imagine that. >> that's how jim met 26-year-old lisa callie. this is lisa's mother carol who took a hard look at tim. >> i think we were kind of skeptical about anybody from the racetrack. always hear of them being sort of vagabond type of people. >> and yet, anyone could see it was love. >> we just cliqued. we were together from the first weekend i met her. >> they lived in a little apartment over carol's place. never made much money. didn't matter. >> they had a lot of fun together. lisa loved horses, loved to travel. >> but then, one awful day a cloud descended and turned black and rained down an awful fate impervious to love and quite ugly. it was cancer. what was it like when she got

sick? >> it was terrible. it's hard to believe. it's like a bad memory. >> it was christmas eve when she was close. she whispered something to her mother. >> ma, don't worry about me she says. i'm going to come back as a horse. >> delusional of course or at most, just a sad, sweet way a dying girl tried to comfort her mother or her husband or herself. and then she was gone. and tim, tim was gone too. in more ways than one. >> i was lost without her. i went to california just to get away from it all. >> he went to live near his daughter sierra to get away from racing, from horses, from his tortured memories. a year went by. two years. three. hardly cared if he lived or died. >> things just kind of spiralled out of control and he ended up taking off and roaming around

the united states, driving. >> and then finally he got it. said he'd rather spend the rest of his days with the only creatures he seemed to understand. so he headed to the mecca of thoroughbred sales in florida with $2500 in cash in his boot. why did you keep it in your boot? >> if you're going to get robbed, they grab your wallet or shake your pockets down. they're not going in your boots. >> tim couldn't possibly afford a proper racing prospect. but there was one filly here nobody else seemed to want. a reject. >> i knew as she walked out, i said i like her. >> even though she was blind in one eye and had a club foot and apparently couldn't run. around the stable they had a joke about her. >> she was so slow you'd have to time her with a sundial. >> supposedly. >> the slowest horse i've ever seen. >> the slowest. >> but tim bought her anyway. >> you were turned by a pretty face. >> yeah.

i liked the way she looked, i liked her structure. >> good girl. >> so her two front feet were so uneven, it was clear to tim that walking was a painful experience for her. >> what was it like for her? >> it's like having a high heel on one foot and a sneaker on the other one. >> because of that, the horse had since birth favored one side over the other. >> this is a larger shoulder than the other one. the other one has less -- had less muscle tone and never was used. >> i was determined to make this horse run. come on. >> so he used every trick in the trainer's book to build muscle and improve speed. >> easy. >> along the way he gave her a name. a nutty idea really. his favorite lunch spot was a strip club called the booby trap. but he added one other thing and some people thought it was an odd way to honor a lost love. so what, said tim. he called her lisa's booby trap.

added lisa because maybe by then the weird thing had begun happening. >> i was in a stall today, he says. and i was brushing her and she turned around and looked at me just like that, just the way lisa used to look at me sometimes, you know. she would give me a look, gave me the chills. >> he shook it off, of course. everybody knows that kind of magic couldn't possibly exist. so even love is about to happen. you have to wonder. >> coming up, see lisa run. but can she win? >> and they're off! >> when "dateline" continues. feel like a knot. how can i ease this pain? (man) when i can't go, it's like bricks piling up. i wish i could find some relief. (announcer) ask your doctor about linzess-- a once-daily capsule for adults with ibs with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation. linzess is thought to help calm pain-sensing nerves

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tim snyder's wife lisa made a strange prom promise on her deathbed. >> she talked about coming back as a horse. she always wanted to be a horse, isn't that weird? >> it is weird. >> you don't actually believe in that stuff, do you you? >> no, i don't. but i'm going to tell you something, this horse here has got a lot of similarities. >> she's already got it -- >> i talk to this horse like it's my old lady and she reacts. >> tim was determined to prove to his many doubters he wasn't crazy when he bought his lame, half-blind race horse. so he brought her back home to upstate new york to get her ready to race. >> just pulled in the driveway the same way he left. >> broke, totally broke.

>> but totally broke. >> but carol marveled at the strange intense bond between the horse and her son-in-law. tim's daughter, sierra, saw it too. >> the horse will hear his car blocks down the street and start talking to him and like, you know, going out her window and it's the cutest thing. >> one day out on the local track here at finger lakes, just to see how she was coming along, tim let lisa run full-out and she surprised him. so he entered lisa in a race here in this, the minor leagues of horse racing. >> and there they go! >> lisa's booby trap went past all of them. >> check out this debuter. very impressive in her first look. >> to win her first race and then her second. >> lisa's booby trap, an undefeated two for two. >> and then her third. >> lisa's booby trap is opening up. she's going to fly home late.

>> so he made a crazy decision. to throw lisa into the big time. the grand old racetrack at saratoga where she had run with the fastest horses on the planet. >> said you don't have a shot. there's a million dollars worth of horses, you don't have a shot. >> lisa's booby trap was posted as a 12 to 1 long shot. tim snyder sneaked off to a back corner of the grandstand to watch alone as his lisa entered the gate. and maybe she was out of her league after all. >> and lisa's booby trap is the last of five. >> then on the far turn, she made her move. >> here's lisa's booby trap on the march. >> and a thrill shot through the stadium. >> here's lisa's booby trap under the wire by a half a dozen lengths. >> and right then and there, as tim struggled to breakthrough the crowd to the winner's circle, the sweet little story

blossomed into a full-blown legend about a woman who died and came back to her man as a horse with a funny name. and she was the toast of saratoga. the offers poured in. how much have you been offered for her now? >> i had a guy say to me, will you take a million dollars for that horse. i said she'd never sell. >> and then, it was a few weeks later, another stakes race on grass. excitement rippled through the stadium. lisa, the hands-down favorite pranced for the crowd. >> it was just exciting because there were so many people there to see her. she was treated like royalty, which is exciting for both of them. >> the gate burst open. >> and they're off! >> lisa stepped out and felt on familiar grass and seemed to panic. that was that. she finished dead last. >> something went wrong. >> doesn't take long for a crowd to turn. but the i told you sos to come out.

tim took his lisa home, gave her the winter off. the odd story faded away. except it didn't quite. the next season, up here in the finger lakes, lisa won so many races, she was named horse of the year. and then in 2012, tim found out he needed an operation for cancer, needed $10,000 to pay for it. so what did he do? he entered lisa's booby trap in another big stakes race at presque isle downs in pennsylvania. it was as if she knew. didn't come first but placed just high enough to pay the medical bills. she was there to save his life again. on top of picking him up when he was down at his lowest. >> and so author joe laiden found himself writing not about a new sea biscuit but rather a love story, the story of a man who didn't want to live anymore.

until he found the spirit of his lost wife in a race horse. >> good minor league race horse, which is not the ending to the story that we thought we might get, but she's still tim's horse. and they're still together, the two of them. >> this year, lisa's booby trap is training for the season at finger lake. carrying around the track all day long, 17 hands high, proud and lovely as ever. and still with the man who saved her. just as she saved him. >> she's got a long ways to go. a lot of run in her. she's a young horse. >> and no, she is still not for sale. >> who wants some sugar. and no lisa's booby trap won't be at the starting gate. but the next leg of the triple crown, the 139th running of the preakness stakes is saturday, may 17th. you can see it right here on nbc.

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♪ ♪ a single mom takes the stage as millions watch. a young barista belts out a power ballad. the hit reality show "the voice" is all about inspirational stories, contestants who have conquered so much and at the finale on may 20th, one of them will win it all. tonight, an exclusive back-stage pass. i just got a rare peek behind the scenes "the voice" and found plenty of inspiration there, too. inside this sound stage, the pace could make your head spin. >> are we rolling?

>> we're rolling. >> as "the voice" finale approaches, it's make or break time for the contestants and for the coaches and crew. they've been putting on something of the equivalent of two grammy award shows each week and will do it until the finale on may 20th. two hours live each monday and tuesday. it takes more than 300 people to give voice to "the voice" and get the show on the air. there's the wardrobe department, makeup and over here two of the coaches, adam and blake, whose digs only seem to escalate behind the scenes. >> that's my lester. >> i thought you only had room for one bromance in your life. >> he does. >> but he hasn't -- >> cracking all the -- >> ready? >> then there's the band. they have to run through and rehearse all the songs over the two nights, and i'm a bit embarrassed to say, put up with

a very buttoned-down bass player. ♪ musical director paul, is the timeline difficult for you, is it difficult to get it together? >> anywhere from 15, 16 songs on an easy week to 25, 30 songs on a finale week complete with our band, singers, horn, strings, choirs, we record all the eye tunes stuff. it's intense. >> obviously most intense for the contestants. all week long through all the rehearsals and the live shows, you'll hear them. the anxious footsteps behind the stage racing to their rendezvous with showbiz destiny. we saw t.j. wilkins of team usher singing his heart out and met him outside the sound stage waiting to hear how america judged his performance. ♪

>> it makes me feel real nervous, but not -- more so anxious because i know i left everything out there on the stage. so all i can do is wait like everyone else for the results. >> there was bria kelly of team usher giving it her all but feeling she fell short. >> i'm scared to death. but if i do end up in the bottom three, which i'm highly suspecting i will be, i'm going to perform a kickass song to try to stay on the show. >> on monday afternoon, we saw contestant josh kaufman of team usher during rehears and across the studio in the makeup chair, we caught up with contestant sisaundra lewis of team blake. she was suffering from allergies, but nothing was going to get the best of her. for sisaundra, being here has

been the chance of a lifetime. ♪ hold on, hold on ♪ >> though she had sung professional before, it was the chance she never thought she'd get again at the age of 44. >> i took a break from the music industry for so to 15 years because i wanted to be home and be a stay-at-home mom with my children. >> at the urging of her daughter, she turned on the voice last year. >> i said i can't do that. this show has no boundaries, they don't care how old you are, anything like that. i always told my children, you can do whatever you put your mind to in life. i took her challenge and stood in line with 10,000 people and i'm here today. it's amazing. >> so far, sisaundra could still make it all the way, as could josh kaufman or the other six remaining contestants. but of course, not everyone will be here for the upcoming shows. t.j. wilkins got bad news. >> being eliminated, i wanted to give a good show.

you will definitely be seeing me again and the t.j. wilkins show will go on. >> and on tuesday, bria kelly also got eliminated. >> it's hard to have anyone go home at this point. if it had to be me, i'm happy that it was because the people who are left are outstanding and totally deserve to be there. >> with all the nonstop activity around here, working on "the voice" is a seven day a week gig for almost everyone. carson spends so much time here, he has a trailer with a bed if he's ever able to catch a catnap. >> i'm here in l.a. shooting this show which is a big priority, it's a lot of hours. >> and a lot of laughs. when we come back -- >> and roll it. >> it's carson and the coaches on making beautiful music. >> that's why i love you, man, because you have a unique voice. >> and bffs. >> we all have chemistry, we all respect and love each other. >> when "dateline" continues. 5%e

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back now to our inside look at "the voice." it's more than music that makes this show magic. host carson daly tells us

there's also a little thing called chemistry. >> i'm constantly asked what it's like backstage at "the voice." well, at our sound stage on the lot in los angeles, you might be surprised by the pre-show party outside our studio. or the frenetic tape during the live show. but the biggest surprise behind the scenes is the relationship among these four. >> i don't know if anybody knows this, but we've become very close. thank you very much. >> from what i can tell, against all showbiz odds, adam levine, usher, blake shelton and shakira have become, well, family. >> that's the way i feel, you know. we have to behave like one. >> kids. >> and you're the most mature one. you're like about 16. >> at times maybe they're a dysfunctional family.

>> can i get another dirty martini when somebody gets -- >> we're going to start the interview. and roll it! >> one more for blake. >> for instance, there's the constant razzing about blake's choice of beverages. >> he's drunk most of the time. >> that's why i need you. that's why i need you. >> she's right. >> people ask you all the time what's in that starbucks cup? is that the number one question for you? >> absolutely. >> what lie do you tell them? >> i never lie. >> that's the one thing about blake, he never lies. >> people can just get over the fact that i'm drinking my face off. >> all kidding aside, blake's friends rallied behind him last year. >> blake shelton. >> he grew up near moore, oklahoma, which was devastated by a massive tornado. >> i've been a walking heart wake ♪ when blake put together a fundraising concert on tv, he needed to find stars who were willing to drop everything and go with him to oklahoma. >> i'm always intimidated about asking any one of these three

for anything. usher is like, hey, if there's anything i can do, let me know. it was like, really? you guys boarded a plane and went to oklahoma. flew through the night and had a quick maybe shower, went to sound check and did that show. >> only blake showered. >> usher showered. >> i knew that was coming. >> then you guys went to work. what was that like for you you? >> it was incredible. ♪ >> it was the first time that i had actually been in front of a country audience and to sing a song that was very significant, not only to blake but also to heal the agony of the reality that they have to go home to. i'm happy that i could be there. >> a few weeks ago all of the coaches performed at a small l.a. club. but though they've had their fun this season, the show does take a toll on their real families. especially for usher whose two young sons are back home in atlanta.

>> this year, it's been one of my hardest years. i lost my grandmother, my son was diagnosed being a type i diabetic. it's so hard to balance all of what i have to do as a human being and still have enough love and passion for the show. >> usher's great. >> it has definitely been -- >> we love you, buddy. >> a difficult one for me, man. >> it's all about you and me now. >> that's right. >> shakira also has family on her mind. she's commuting to spain where she has a 1-year-old son milan with soccer star gerard p.k. >> i say mama is going to take a plane and she's going to go sing, la, la. >> he gets it. he's like -- he looks at me like that. and says -- he goes like that. it's clear in his mind that this is what i do for a living. >> is it hard to be aware from him? >> it's so hard. that's the downside leaving him back home. his dad is such a good dad.

he's so devoted and dedicated. >> do you face time? >> face time all the time. >> for blake, a hard part has been dealing with the constant tabloid stories about his marriage to country star miranda lambert. >> i pretty much kept my life an open book. there's not very many secrets. you might pick up a magazine or a tabloid and any day of the week that will say something about my relationship with miranda, it's in turmoil and divorce. the truth is, i've never felt a stronger bond with not only with her, but with any other human being in my life. i mean, we've never been happier together. i've never had anybody that's made me feel as happy in my life as my wife does. >> adam is engaged to south african model and last weekend, they attended the new york premiere of his new movie, begin again. >> adam, so busy. thinking about his wedding. everything is in your head is flower arrangements.

>> amen. >> he says the key to success is the positive reinforcement he and other coaches are able to give to up and coming performers. >> that's why i love you. you have a unique voice. >> when we started this thing, the show would be a different spin on music competitions and singing competitions and wasn't going to have the same -- no way to put it, but negativity attached to it. where you would come down on people and kind of judge people. >> and to him, the positive attitude on "the voice" is the best part of the job. >> we all have chemistry. we all respect and love each other as people. first and foremost. and putting that out into the world seems like a really nice thing for a television show. ♪ >> want the scoop on a few more backstage secrets? hoda kot becomes and kathy lee gifford will be broadcasting live from the set of "today."

that's all for this edition of "dateline." see you again on friday at 8:00, 7:00 central. i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, good night. . - previously on believe... - bo is a very special little girl. she is starting to become the person she is going to be. - we still have a leak, and that angers me. when i find the traitor, i'll make them beg for mercy, but i will not grant it. - that machine can pinpoint her location. this chip has to be inserted directly in the machine. - at orchestra? winter, i'm blown. they know i'm here. - ms. channing, so nice to see you again. - if she can't master this beautiful ability, she won't be able to take on orchestra. - bo, it's time to practice. pyramid. - we can identify and locate any telekinetic or telepathic emanation anywhere. - [screams] can i help you? - who are you? - dani. [classical music] - i just want her to be the best version of herself. - she can't practice all the time. - the only way to get better is practice.